Track & Field Transatlantic Series Continues Saturday

Penn Track in England (2010)

Meet Schedule

PHILADELPHIA - A biennial tradition, Ivy rivals Penn and Cornell team up against England universities, Oxford and Cambridge. Dating back more than half a century, the Transatlantic Series is hosted by the Big Red this year and will be held in Ithaca, N.Y. on Saturday afternoon.

Following traditional British scoring, each event winner earns one point for their team. Penn and Cornell meet Oxford and Cambridge in the transatlantic dual approximately every two years, alternating as the hosts on each occassion. In 2010, for the last meeting, the Quakers and Big Red went across the Atlantic. Penn hosted Cornell and their overseas guests at Franklin Field in 2009, and next summer, the two U.S. schools are scheduled to travel back to England.

Saturday's meet between the American and British universities will start at 10 a.m. with the shot put and on the track at 10:30 a.m. with the 3,000 meters. The meet will conclude at 3:20 p.m. with the 4x400-meter relays.

In the latest edition of this Transatlantic Series, the Quakers and Big Red toured Great Britain and then topped the foreign duo in Oxford at the historic Roger Bannister Running Track. The Penn and Cornell women remained unbeaten all-time in the series when they combined to win all but one of the 19 events. The men had similar success, getting off to a fast start with victories by Penn athletes in four of the first five events, and in all, Cornell and Penn won 16 of the 19 event titles.

Penn will have some momentum heading into the meet. In Raleigh last week, Margaret Diacont had a first-place finish in her section of the steeplechase, clocking 10:55.98. That was a new career-best and moved her from third all-time to second in the Penn record book. Junior Chelsea Delaney was seventh in her section of the 1,500 with a time of 4:32.58 to slide into the 10-spot of the school record book. Kelsey Hay (44.97 meters) set a collegiate best with her effort and marked the fifth-best toss in program history.

A full recap will be available at PennAthletics.com shortly after the conclusion of the meet.